Welcome to the Phat Daily Column. Well, RAW is WAR was on last night, much to the dismay of WCW, who was forced to be pre-empted. I really need to get more caffeine here in the PDC office, because I totally forgot that Nitro was pre-empted when I wrote yesterday's column. Shame on me. WCW even advertised it for once too. Ah well. Let's review RAW.

RAW is WAR

Remember what happens when the WWF has no WCW competiting: they tend to slack off more, so I kept that in mind when watching this show.

I swear, the WWF is getting soo innovative these days. Instead of just setting up two matches during the BORING 20 Minute Interview, they set up TWO matches. Later on, Vince meshed those two matches into one. Wow. WWF in a booking rut these days? Nooooo.....

Our first match of the night was William Regal against Test. In what I thought would be a Royal Rumble match, was about a 3 minute squash on Test's part. Damn. I didn't quite expect that, unless Regal is really hurt and needs time off. Hopefully, the lame European title gives a spark to Test's attitude, since he's a pretty decent performer.

Next match was the Hardy Boyz facing off against the Acolytes. Oddly enough, I like seeing both of these teams work against each other. Especially since the Acolytes can transition as heels or faces in an instant! The Acolytes, like they did Thursday, got a strong win over the Hardys again. Hardy Boys need to learn who is the legal man during their matches, because they've been nailed twice on that. If the WWF is going to tease a break up again, for about the 4th time, then actually make it happen. Push Jeff as the next HBK, and put Matt in the Lightweight division.

The WWF, lately, have been doing backstage scenes/interviews in one television segment lately. Yeah, it's nothing like going through 3 minutes of commercials, watching garbage backstage, and then doing 3 more minutes of commercials. And I thought ECW on TNN was bad at that.

Good match between Chris Benoit/Big Show vs. Rock/Jericho. With the Big Show, it looks like he has gained 30 pounds instead of losing 80 like Ross kept hyping in his Ross Report. Nothing annoys me more than seeing the Rock getting out of the Crossface, though. Others tap immediately, BUT Rocky. No glass ceiling, remember? And of course, Rock destroys Benoit at the end. Ah fuck it, it was a good enough match to complain about how Benoit is getting the shaft, when he was more WRESTLING talent than anybody in the WWF. I guess since Big Show chokeslammed everyone afterward, that makes him "over"? By the way, wasn't he going to start from the bottom up and not get an instant push? I thought he had to grow up and earn it this time around? They said that about Billy Gunn too.

The Women's match featured the usual intensity of Molly Holly, bringing the best out of her opponent, but it featured the usual Steven Richards screwjob ending. Geesh. Before the match, Ivory was talking stuff about Chyna, and how SHE hurt Chyna herself. Well, I really wonder how long Chyna will actually take off. For such a devastating neck injury, I say until a week before No Way Out. I believe Chyna is going to be promoting her book, nationwide, which is why she's "injured". I still see it as sickening on the WWF's part to do such an angle.

WWF broke rule #657, and that means to NEVER hype Rikishi vs. Kane to be a HUGE match. Anyway, good old Meng.... excuse me, Haku ran down, and tonight, he proved why he's a bad investment on the WWF's part. When the Undertaker made the save, did you see all of those punches he was no selling? It's only going to get worse. I don't think there is a single WWF fan who wants to see Haku/Rikishi vs. Kane/Undertaker. Well, I'm sorry, I forgot about the marks who will cream when they collide. Funny thing is that NOBODY boos for Rikishi, and nobody knows who Haku is or was in the WWF.

Now, if I were WCW, I'd dog the WWF for taking Meng off their hands. Meng is an older wrestler, and WCW could claim that they got rid of him because he was old and washed up. That would be a good Eric Bischoff dogging, if he wanted to. Back to RAW.

Lo Down vs. the Dudley Boyz did absolutely nothing for me. It should have been a Heat match, IF THAT, because Lo Down isn't obviously into it anymore, and it had a stupid finish. Sure, I hate Tiger Ali Singh, but he's taken a few of those 3Ds through tables before. Lo Down will NEVER be marketable in such stupid attire, too. Give them back their wifebeaters, and give them D'Lo's music again. Singh's music doesn't quite pump the fans up like D'Lo's.

Although it was one of the better Hardcore Matches lately, the Al Snow and Raven match should have been inside. It sort of killed the crowd momentum, even more, after the two bad finish matches before it. Al Snow actually got the win, BUT, those lovely 24/7 rules are here! Raven's driver, who is shaped like a chick, attacked Snow to give Raven his 2nd title reign. Some are guessing, already, that it's Chastity. VERY unlikely. Why would the WWF hire something that the PTC would jump all over them for? Some other parental groups attacked Time Warner when Chastity was in WCW, since she was in a porno before. WWF wouldn't want such heat from the PTC. I bet it's another rejected WCW valet, since WCW seems to be releasing them by the day, or possibly one of the million ECW valets, since they aren't exactly making money these days. I'd LAUGH if it turns out to be Missy Hyatte.

Main event was OK, with Triple H/Stephanie getting the win over Kurt Angle/Trish Stratus. I'm sure Vince will be pissed at the Game for assaulting Trish, which we'll all enjoy on Smackdown, for that "sports entertainment". Blah. Steve Austin gave Triple H the stunner after the match, which makes me sigh because no other feud gets as much attention. Their match should be billed as "Who Has the Most Booking Power", or a Booking Power on a Pole match.

RAW Phat Stats

LAST WORD: Eh, not a bad show, but definitely not a great one. It's not a thunderous show I'd expect after a hot Pay Per View, but you must remember that there is no fire lit underneath the WWF's ass this week, in the form of competition. This show was an up and down show, with some bad matches and some dull "sports entertainment", but then again, it had some decent matches, especially the Rock/Jericho vs. Big Show/Benoit match. Going on a much nicer scale due to the absense of competition, we'll give it a

B

this week. This show wasn't insulting like many other RAWs in the past week, although the glass ceiling is very present. It should be interesting to see how this show did in the ratings. I predict something around the 6.0 mark, possibly, for the first time in a while. If not, upper fives, easily.

If you REALLY want some Nitro hype for tonight's show, then Click Here for Yesterday's column.